A Sort Of Homecoming
by The Shinsengumi Muses
Summary: A songfic to U2's A Sort of Homecoming. A little odd... Sano's an android... O__o A SAD ending! Don't read on a bad day, just DON'T! Sano and Saitou stuff!


Warnings: Deathfic (lots 'o angst), Saitou POV, some sap, and then of course: SaitouxSano!  
  
Notes: I did this fic in a period of two days and the first scene was my first attempt at something action oriented. Do not read on a bad day! I'm serious about the angst! Lost of thanks go out to Anji-chan for beta'ing! ^___^  
  
  
  
A Sort of Homecoming  
  
By: Emmy  
  
[And you know it's time to go  
Through the sleet and driving snow  
Across the fields of mourning  
Light in the distance]  
  
I've honestly been rotting in this jail cell for longer than I can remember. If I couldn't remember the reason I came to coexist in such a place, I would be led to believe that I had been born here, and here was all I knew. But murder can be a heavy weight to carry on your back, especially where the law is concerned, and especially when you get caught. If I hadn't gotten caught, and if this didn't weigh into my present situation, I could have forgotten that I ever did it. But it wasn't that simple.  
  
Every night, when I Iower myself to the hard, metal of his box like bed I am reminded of what I did. It doesn't really matter anyway. This is all that I'm ever going to know; everyone is condemning me to it. The law, the guards, even the other inmates seem to snicker at me, cursing and amusing over my existence. They must know that I have it rough, even though they have it rough too. But in the end, I pity them. They're going to be damned fools forever if they can't see past the present. If you don't have a future you could just stay and rot in this overly glorified butcher's den. But I have a future and a dream. That's what separates me from them.  
  
My feet lower themselves to the ground as my legs stabilize and I stand up, pacing around the cell. The time, I look to my watch, isn't going to matter three minutes from now. Stretching out, I walk around the room a bit, working the kinks out of my legs. Two minutes go by, one left to go. Fifty more seconds. My eyes focus so closely on my watch that my eyes begin to cross so I can see myself in the dark glass.  
  
Three.  
  
Two.  
  
One.  
  
A crash, a few meters from here. The inmates are screaming out of fear, or excitement, but those who arrive have no intention what so ever so getting those bastards out. I grin and dig my hand deep in my pocket, pulling out a hand grenade and while pulling out the pin, I smirk. This isn't taking much; this isn't taking much at all. By protecting my head and cursing the dust and gun smoke in my nostrils I have an escape though the bent metal bars and out the collapsing front gate.  
  
I hurried along, my feet slapping against the ground three times every second and dodged the guards heading either towards me, or towards the intruder. With the knife In my palm, I slew three of them, dropping the shells that used to be human onto the ground. I nearly slipped on the blood against the cold, yet strangely smooth rock, but managed to catch myself out of the horrible fate that might follow. The men tried to draw their guns, but their hands were either dismantled from their bodies, via my dagger, or they were shot too soon by their bumper-to-bumper comrades. A pathetic bunch, I must say myself.  
  
I dived the last few feet to the hole in the wall, a barricade of light my last obstacle. He was here for me, just like we had planned. After five years in that damned prison, he was finally here for me! I ran into a body that felt a bit cold to be alive and after the light calmed down, I tossed aside the dead guard that had been tossed carelessly at me, from a helicopter above. Hanging from a rope ladder he hung, shooting the guards around us with pin-point accuracy, a wild grin painted on his face like a crazed genius about to destroy the world.  
  
I run closer, slitting a few more throats and grabbing onto the hanging ladder. He drops me down a gun, laughing out, "I never break a promise, now you have to hold up your end of the bargain. Stay alive!" I quickly mounted, the gun in my hand, and aimed carefully at a dozen men the furthest away, armed with bazookas. Those could make some damage. I shot five of them down, one bullet left to go in this round; it would need to be carefully shot.  
  
I looked for two men close together, possibly more. I was going for a ricochet. That was, at least, until the ladder jerked upward at an incredible speed, getting our asses out of there. I placed my bullet in one last place, out of revenge. The biggest asshole in the entire prison just died instantly with a bullet lodged into his skull by my hand.  
  
[And you hunger for the time  
Time to heal, desire, time  
And your earth moves beneath  
Your own dream landscape]  
  
I followed him up into the helicopter, the wind had it in for me. I could almost swear that right now it wanted to make us nothing but a sack of splatter flesh, blood and bone down on the burnt mother Earth somewhere. But I wasn't going to let it have its way. I still had to keep a promise to a certain man. One that rescued me, and that I still needed to repay. Finally, I beat my rival and climbed up into the helicopter, finding yet another cold bench seat to sit on. I was glaring, and he noticed it.  
  
"What's your problem?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You're glaring at my buddy's interior! I think it might have been stupid not to come after you sooner! After all this time, you've turned into a major asshole."  
  
"We stuck to the plan! That was it!" I snapped and left the man looking a bit offended. "OK, I understand! Calm down, OK?!"  
  
I groaned as I sat down. wiping the dust off of my shirt, or at least what I could have gotten off of it. He came over and sat down beside me, pulling his silver framed glasses off to clean them. First he pulled them off and showed them to me, grinning at the substance still dripping in clots. "You'd never know how far blood splatters until ya shoot someone in the neck."  
  
"In the neck? Your precision is getting rusty."  
  
"No, I just felt like shooting him there."  
  
I cleared my throat as he began to clean them off this time without any dumb comments. The helicopter pilot turned around and exchanged a thumbs up with the man sitting next to me. "Kano," I began and he laughed, waving a hand in front of his body looking slightly embarrassed, "no, my name isn't Kano anymore. I changed way back when, when I was a escapee in Moscow."  
  
"What is it now?"  
  
"Actually, it's funny that you should ask..."  
  
I looked on indifferent to Kano. "How's it so funny?"  
  
"My name is..."  
  
"...is?" I asked, cocking my head at him.  
  
He flashed me a content smile, one filled with a happiness that I had never seen on his face before. Ever. "My name is Sanosuke."  
  
[Oh, oh, oh...  
On borderland we run...]  
  
That night the man fell asleep on my lap. Sanosuke? That was the name that he had changed for himself. The lovely little android had always been there for me, waiting with a smile or a smart-ass remark. His programming, was really something. After all these years, he still remembered the exact date, the exact time... it had been burned into my memory because that was the only date I had been waiting for all these years.  
  
And to that I was supposed to kill him after he served out his purpose. It wasn't as if I wouldn't kill him. However, for some reason, killing him would hold a bit more regret for me as opposed to killing some human scum. I looked down to the bundle and sighed, reaching around in my pocket for a cigarette. I pulled out a light, after I found it and put the paper to my lips, lighting a small fire. Just what I needed to calm my nerves.  
  
The helicopter bumped up and down for a second, ridiculous turbulence. I groaned internally, but then the thrashing became more violent. I looked up and over at the pilot who looked as if he was having a bit of trouble controlling the plane. "What's going on!?"  
  
"It's no use, Saitou-san! We were shot earlier and our fuel reserves are dropping rapidly! I can't see well enough in this darkness to make a safe landing! Please take Sanosuke-san and get out of here while you still can!!" His voice was urgent and his eyes wide, looking at the gauges and readouts. I could tell by the way he was operating and the way he was acting that this was no joke. I stirred the young man in my arms and reached for a parachute that was supposed to be right next to bench. Cursing myself for not being able to reach one, I tossed the cigarette to the floor and killed the flame with the sole of my shoe, looking down Sanosuke who was currently yawning and stretching out like a little newborn kitten. I was about to slap the boy, since this was no time to be cute.  
  
The plane rocked harder and the alarmed look in Sanosuke's eyes looked anything but artificial. "Saitou? What's going on?!"  
  
"The plane is crashing, we have to get out of here now," I said and he stood up, only to fall back down to his knees in the violent jerks of the helicopter. I found the parachutes, stuffed and secured under the seat, but there were only two. I looked at the pilot and shook my head, throwing one to Sanosuke and one on myself. "Hurry it up!"  
  
"Umm, Jime... I don't wanna jump..."  
  
"Well you're going to have to if you have plans to keep on living, ahou!"  
  
"Hey! Watch what you're calling me! I'm no moron!"  
  
"Then jump!"  
  
As the door was thrown open, the night's winds suctioned us out of the door. I gripped firmly on the parachute and pushed Sanosuke out, but looking to make sure that his parachute was secure first. He screamed a loud, but slightly drowned out, "Fuck you!!" and fell out into the blackness. I was soon to follow, jumping and pulling back down onto string.  
  
[I'll be there  
I'll be there...  
Tonight  
A high road  
A high road out from here]  
  
My head hurt. My legs hurt. My body hurt, but no one was going to even hear about it except for me. Before I was too quick to open my eyes, my arms groped around on the ground, feeling the wet sand slip through my fingers. I opened my eyes and sat up, looking out to the water that was no more than an arm's reach away. Had I washed ashore or had I landed on the shore? My parachute was no longer on, but I hadn't fallen. I looked around bit more; this was no tropical island. It was more temperate than anything. It was not surround all the way around by water either. There was no doubt about it, this was a bay, although I had no idea where.  
  
I stood up and looked around a bit more. More specifically looking for a certain android boy. If we had washed ashore, his circuits would be malfunctioning. I began to look around even more. Where was he?! I didn't want to panic about it, but that was all I was resorting to at the moment. Where was that rooster head?!  
  
"Sanosuke?!" I called loudly, but did my very best not to sound worried. It was more like a 'where are you hiding ' call than a 'are you dead' call. I looked in the sand for foot prints right off, and then when I didn't find any, traces for a parachute or of the android himself. I spun around a few times, looking around for any traces of anything. I sighed; this was absurd. Although he did have a GPD, it wasn't as if it would take much to find out where I was myself. Civilization couldn't have been too far off, and I didn't look like your standard convict.  
  
Even though I knew that, I was still worried and startled when I heard a voice from behind me call, "Jime, you asshole! I'm gonna kill you!! You know that I'm afraid of heights, and you didn't seem to give a shit!" and then tackle me to the sandy ground. I chuckled as the boy pinned me, although he was supposed to be nothing more than a robot, he possessed more life than a normal person.  
  
That's what made him unique, that that was why I loved him.  
You think that I'm preposterous? That I've fallen for a machine made out of cords and metal? Humans are only meat and organs, when it comes down to it. It doesn't really matter, why would it? After all, we're all going to die, we're all going to love, so tell me, why does it matter?  
  
I look up at the brunette smirking though a look of fake-hatred, although deep down I'm more than sure that he didn't really want to be thrown off of a plane. However, for the being he looks at me with a smirk, that becomes a sweet smile as he pins me to the sand, looking as he he's going kill me and cry over my grave. He looks all right, he doesn't look as if he washed ashore. He looks like he might have fallen into a tree, and then fallen out, a few scratches across his tan skin.  
  
I reach up with one of my pinned arms to one of those scratches and brushed my knuckles over it. "Does that hurt?"  
  
"Yes, but it shouldn't should it?"  
  
"Is it in your program to feel pain?"  
  
"It's in my program to feel pain so I can be more human, and so others won't suspect anything different."  
  
"What a meaningless existence."  
  
What I wasn't excepting was a punch to the face, but it hurt and I looked up to the boy, wondering of the purpose.  
  
"Does that hurt?"  
  
"Yes, but it should shouldn't it?"  
  
"Is it in your nature to feel pain?"  
  
"I'm human."  
  
"What a meaningless existence."  
  
[The city walls are all come down  
The dust, a smoke screen all around  
See faces sloughed like fields that once  
Gave no resistance]  
  
I glared to him, but leaned up, capturing his lips with mine. I pulled him down, my fingers tangled in his hair, tasting his mouth. I rolled over, so it was his back to the sand and I was the one doing to pinning, kissing him harshly and passionately. "--Jime!" He started in protest, but my mouth was hard on his, making sure to shut him up this time.  
  
"If our existence is so meaningless, then why should we continue?" I asked and he glared, shoving me off of him. I paused before I advanced. He wasn't as I remembered him. Before, whenever I had kissed him, he just sat there, or kissed back a bit. This time, he was blushing like mad and practically suffocating. I cocked my head slightly, that blush was amazing, and his characteristics. I couldn't believe that science had advanced so much.  
  
"Sanosuke, what's the mission this time, if you don't want to do this?"  
  
"--uhh... the mission... the mission is..." he paused before regaining his breath.  
  
"Assassination... assassinate big leader guy... assassinate Kenshin Himura..."  
  
I knew this man, but that's wasn't what I wanted to find out about now. What I wanted to know about the upgrades made to this model. I raised an eyebrow and stood up, looking around for a second. The boy was still blushing madly, and he stood up as well, brushing his COR uniform off. "And where is he now?"  
  
"In Tokyo."  
  
"And we are?"  
  
"Off the coast of India."  
  
"Not that far off. What's the plan?"  
  
"You're the one that always does all the planning. Go for it."  
  
"Oh yes. I forgot. You're the one that sits on his ass and is merely along for the ride."  
  
[And we live by the side of the road  
On the side of a hill  
As the valley explode  
Dislocated, suffocated  
The land grows weary of its own]  
  
"Finally, it took long enough!" The rooster head exclaimed as we finally found civilization and a hotel. I rolled my eyes as I walked up to the hotel. "I assume that you have money?" He gave me the 'what do I look like' look and pulled a few bills out of his pockets. I took them and slapped them down on the counter for the hotel manager and he gave us a quick key. Sano glared as we walked into the room that we shared.  
  
"What? Are you expecting me to try something?"  
  
"Why didn't you get two beds?"  
  
"Would I waste my time on a piece of machinery?"  
  
"Asshole!"  
  
I grinned and fell back onto the bed. He still glared at me. He pulled out a CD and tossed it over to me, which I easily caught and cocked my head at him. "What's this for ahou?"  
  
"It's information on Himura."  
  
"Tell me why we're assassinating him, wasn't he the one that created you?"  
"Yes. But that's all in the past. I'm not allowed to distribute any more information."  
"That's nice."  
  
"This little precaution shouldn't concern you, the way I see it, this is how everything always has been."  
  
"That doesn't mean that I wasn't expecting a change."  
  
The young man folded his arms, "A lot has changed, but that doesn't mean that common sense has."  
  
"Since when has common sense been against questioning a murder?" He glared at me once more and shook his head, coming to sit down on the bed.  
  
"That just isn't the point..."  
  
"Then what are you trying to tell me?"  
  
"Nothing, I'm just saying--"  
  
"Stop saying, and just think about getting to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."  
  
"A-aa."   
  
[Oh, oh, oh... on borderland we run...  
And still we run  
We run and don't look back  
I'll be there  
I'll be there  
Tonight  
Tonight]  
  
The room was silent in the dead of the night, and a certain brunette was lying awake. I wasn't sure whether or not an android was supposed to charge or sleep or what not. But what I knew is that he was awake, since I was having a bit of trouble going to sleep as well. Although in my present condition, I should have fallen asleep before my head touched the pillow, but my state was a little different... I hadn't a clue as to why either.  
  
I felt a chaste tug on my sleeve and I turned around to the android along my side, looking to me while laying down on his side as well.  
  
"What is it?" I asked a bit harshly, he stuttered and then finally stated, "I was just wondering exactly what I meant to you."  
  
"You're not supposed to wondering. What brought this about?"  
  
"Ever since the upgrades, I only remember what they told me of you. I don't have any memories of my own, and I was wondering if I was... something special to you at all. Could you tell about our past?"  
  
"Do you know if I would even be able to tell you the truth."  
  
"Then lie to me, just let me believe." He said, a bit warily and crawled up to my chest, steadying himself there and evening out his breaths.  
  
"Just let you believe what, ahou?" I asked as my handed moved out of instinct to stroke his hair in sweet caress. I never thought of myself as a romantic in any respect, but this was different.  
  
"That some one cares about me."  
  
"What's with the change of thought?"  
  
"What change of thought?"  
  
"A while ago you couldn't stand me even close to you, what the hell changed?"  
  
He punched me in the shoulder, but I didn't think he was serious, he just wanted me to think that he was.   
  
"Hmm, this feels a lot like home."  
  
"Like home?"  
  
"Feels safe, feels like I'm wanted, even if it is just a fantasy." I looked down to the bundle on my chest and carefully picked my words:  
  
"Why do you say that it's just a fantasy?"  
  
"Who'm I foolin'? I'm just a damn android, remember? A hunk of metal with some wires transferring data." It hurt me a little, but I didn't understand why. This had nothing to do with me, even if I had confirmed that notion by harsh words and a confident voice. I rolled over on his and looked down into his eyes and said sternly:  
  
"You're as human as me, just in a different way."  
  
His eyes were cold, "Then treat me like a person."  
  
I nodded and leaned my head down, and claimed his lips, slipping my tongue into his mouth and ran it across his teeth and warm tongue of his own. I heard the boy let out a muffled sob, he was serious. But then again, I was in the same boat, and was the entire human race. Wondering where they came from, wondering where they would go when their physical body dies. All these were unanswered questions, and we all were afraid of the unknown. But I had a desire to make the unknown know to me. And I was about to explore just how deeply my feelings for this android went.  
  
My hand dipped underneath his shirt and stroked his hard chest, earning some interesting noises from the brunette due my exploration. I kissed him deeply and moved to the side of his neck, kissing my way down, gently, however passionately.  
  
"Is this how you treat all people?" Was his choked answer.  
  
"No, only you."  
  
He gave me a sincere smile as I made love to him the only way I knew how to. Loving him.  
  
[I'll be there tonight... I believe  
I'll be there... somehow  
I'll be there...tonight  
Tonight]  
  
I walked back up to the hotel room, and over to the bed where I had stayed the past night. The boy was still fast asleep, but I had been awake for hours. I walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He groaned and rolled over, looking at me with a rather content smile playing over his lips.  
  
"G'morning."  
  
"Good afternoon, I already headed down the the lobby and its adjoining library to check out the information on that disk."  
  
"Find it interesting?"  
  
"Aah quite the information about Battousai's condo and his..." I searched for an appropriate word, "Bodyguards?"  
  
"Aoshi and Hiko? They were always nice guys." There was that dumb smile still lingering on his face.   
  
"Regardless, if they get in the way it will be their lives as well."  
  
His face fell a bit, but that didn't matter. A job was a job and if the rooster head was to let personal feelings get in the way, he wasn't cut out for this type of work. If there was one imperfection in the Battousai's work, it was the fact that all of his creations possessed a human conscience and sense of humanity. This made them even harder to separate from humans. Most scientists thought the Battousai a genius to bring a sense of humanity to inhuman objects of machine. But in my eyes, it was an imperfection.  
  
"So what's the plan?"  
  
"Invading his condo, and infiltrating his underground laboratory. Then we kill him and destroy everything in the area. We'll make it look like a freak chemical accident or something different due to circumstance." Sano merely nodded and crawled out of bed and to the dresser, about ready to head out.   
  
[The wind will crack in winter time  
This bomb blast lightning waltz  
No spoken words, just a scream...]  
  
Night had fallen and we took that opportunity under the twilight cover to hurry along down to where the Battousai's condo was. Sanosuke was showing a bit more hesitance than would have been expected or necessary. This wasn't the best type of behavior for such a sensitive mission. But even so, we took cover under the night, and hurried into the condo.   
  
"Jime, I disabled the security cameras and sensors, but we only have three minutes before they track back into emergency mode!"  
  
"Couldn't you over-ride those too?" I demanded as I hurried up my pace.  
  
"No way! Those things couldn't be stopped if you bombed the place!"  
  
"I see." I commented blindly as we reached a door. We quickly slipped in, undetected as I froze. I looked around the room to the countless bodies spread out on the ground, they must have been guards. "What happened to them?" I questioned out loud. Sano chuckled.  
  
"I don't appreciate casualties that can be avoid. While I was tinkering with the hacking, I decided to slip some knock-out gas into the ventilation system. They'll be out like babies for a while, but we don't have time to think about it! The security will be back on as well pretty damned soon!"  
  
I nodded quickly as we picked up the pace and I ripped a blueprint of the area from my back pocket, the Battousai was going to be about a story below us, 50 meters southeast from our present location. I looked on the map for the nearest stairway. "This way," I commanded and opened a set of doors. I hurried down, not even bothering to look back as I heard the boy trip. Finally, we reached the right level, two stories underground.  
  
Sprinting and grabbing the holster for my gun at my side, I passed through three rooms. This was the door ahead. Finally, I pushed it open into a rather small dark room, that was lit by a single candle.  
  
"So you've come after me, Saitou de gozaru?" Was the response I received from the shadows.  
  
"Where are your bodyguards?"  
  
"I sent Hiko and Aoshi out on an urgent mission. I didn't want them to get involved with this."  
  
"Hn. I wise choice."  
  
I pointed my gun as I heard a heavy breathing coming from behind me. I saw Himura's hand raise as a greeting and say a, "Hello Sano."   
  
The red-head then extended his arms and smiled at Sanosuke one more time, and for some reason the way the rooster head looked back made me a little jealous. I cocked my gun. "You were ready for this, Battousai?"  
  
"Of course, de gozaru. I knew that this time was going to come eventually, I'm just grateful that I lived long enough to make a difference, gozaru."  
  
"Make a difference?"  
  
"Just do what you came here to do gozaru."  
  
There was no fear in the man's candle-lit eyes and I obliged, adding just a little bit more pressure to the trigger.  
  
His body fell and then I heard a voice behind me say, "Now that you've killed Kenshin and finished your mission, you know what you have to do right?" I knew, and I couldn't hesitate.   
  
[Tonight we'll build a bridge  
Across the sea and land  
See the sky, the burning rain  
She will die and live again  
Tonight]  
  
It hurt, too much, I realized as I pulled the trigger at the innocent face and released a sea of blood into the air. It hurt way to much, however your purpose was filled, and there was nothing left for me to do expect fulfill my final obligation and wait for my next assignment, and for my next partner. But he was just a machine, I reminded myself.  
  
Just a machine.  
  
JUST. A. MACHINE.  
  
It wasn't sinking in, but I lifted my head up high; I could always have a million genetically engineered androids if I requested and had the money. He wasn't real. He was just a fictitious character in some somebody else's life. He was nothing but make-believe.  
  
I lifted my head as a man approached me as I headed outside the condo's room into another room. He had been waiting for me. Now the only question remaining was what he wanted. He was wearing a COR uniform, so I suspected he was friend, not foe. He raised his voice in alarm as he looked down at the crumpled, red bled body that I trailed into the next room. "What did you do to Sanosuke!? You didn't have orders to kill him! He was human!"  
  
My eyes widened as I looked up to the man and raised by voice in doubt. That couldn't be right, he was just a machine!!  
  
[And your heart beats so slow  
Through the rain and fallen snow  
Across the fields of mourning  
Light's in the distance]  
  
"No, that can't be right!" I exclaimed. "Explain yourself!"  
  
The man stepped out from behind the desk and held out a file. "That Sanosuke Sagara was not a robot. We had decided that this model had been of so much use to us, that we would try something a little different with an upgrade. This upgrade spawned something else completely. That Sanosuke Sagara was not a android, but a genetically produced clone of the robot with every attribute human body and soul. I thought that he would tell you the differences in our plans; you were not to kill that one! Although why Sanosuke didn't tell you this is beyond me."  
  
Why didn't I...? What did I...?  
  
How could I have not noticed...?  
  
Had he... wanted to die...?  
  
Why would he...!?  
  
The man walked out of room, and left I, Hajime Saitou to pound my clenched fists on the table with nothing but regret in my soul. Regret and lost love that I was going to have to live with for the rest of my life...  
  
[Oh don't sorrow, no don't weep  
For tonight, at last  
I am coming home  
I am coming home]  
  
Are you really coming home...?  
  
...that'd be nice...  
  
  
OWARI  
  
Like it? Hate it? Tell me! But please be gentle! I'm fragile! :-p  
  



End file.
